The site, known simply as Ridge A, is nearly 14,000 metres high and is located deep within the Antarctic Plateau.

It has an average winter temperature of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius) and is so remote that it is thought that no human has ever set foot there. A team of American and Australian scientists identified Ridge A from satellite imagery and climate models during an exhaustive search for the best observatory site in the world.

The site is within the Australian Antarctic Territory, nearly 90 miles from an existing international robotic observatory.

Will Saunders, the study leader, noted that as well as the extremely low temperatures, the site has a very low level of water in the air. He said: “It's so calm that there's almost no wind or weather there at all.”

All these elements combine to make the perfect recipe for an astronomical observation post: “The astronomical images taken at Ridge A should be at least three times sharper than at the best sites currently used by astronomers," Mr Saunders said.

“Because the sky there is so much darker and drier, it means that a modestly-sized telescope there would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth.”

The team believes that a telescope at the site could take nearly as good photos as those from the space-based Hubble Telescope. At present, the best observatories on the ground are located on high mountain tops in Hawaii and Chile.

Google Inc. has signed a contract to buy the building that houses its New York City offices, in a deal that values the property at close to $1.9 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal for the massive 2.9-million-square-foot property at 111 Eighth Avenue is the biggest for a single building in the U.S. this year.

While the building is located in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood—and not one of the city's tony office districts—it is popular with tenants like Nike Inc., the Lifetime cable channel and WebMD, the Web publisher. About one-third of its space is occupied by telecommunication companies.

Google occupies about 500,000 square feet in the building and earlier this fall was reported to be a front-runner in the bidding for the property. The company won partly because it knew the building well and was willing to close the deal before the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter. While the deal could still fall apart, that is unlikely because the contract is binding and Google has put down a large deposit, these people said.

A spokesman for Google declined to comment.

All well and good if you have unlimited resources - meanwhile, back here on planet earth you can still get the occasional bargain. Why not sample some of the worlds more reasonably priced building like a fabulous Florida Villa or even a sun kissed apartment in the Algarve!

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani, 53, is set to move into the 27-storey palace with wife Nita and three kids in days.

The 570ft Mumbai tower has three helipads, 50-seat cinema, health club and ballroom. Named Antilia after a mythical island, it took seven years to build amid the city's slums.

Guests stay mid-tower - above a tree-lined garden that absorbs sunlight to cool the interior. The skyscraper has a whopping five football pitches of floor space.
Its 600 staff are housed on two floors, while the bottom six storeys provide parking for 168 cars and an in-house garage.

The top four levels, with sea views, are family quarters. The pad cost £44million to build but is now worth 15 times that!

Guests stay mid-tower - above a tree-lined garden that absorbs sunlight to cool the interior. The skyscraper has a whopping five football pitches of floor space.

Its 600 staff are housed on two floors, while the bottom six storeys provide parking for 168 cars and an in-house garage.

The top four levels, with sea views, are family quarters. The pad cost £44million to build but is now worth 15 times that!

The Ballroom

Luxury living quarters

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